Chena River Aviation Incorporated

Chena River Aviation Incorporated, doing business as Chena River Aviation, is a veteran-owned Alaska-based helicopter operator providing on-call helicopter flight services to the Department of the Interior as a prime contractor across 100% of its federal footprint. The company operates primarily under Total Small Business set-asides and full-and-open competitive awards, competing at the prime level only; no sub-award activity is present in the source.

Chena River Aviation's core capability is fixed-price helicopter-based logistics, wildlife survey, and aerial transport in remote Alaska terrain. The company delivers caribou and moose population surveys, animal capture and collar pickup, golden eagle and wolf monitoring, bear capture operations, and general equipment and personnel transport throughout Alaska's national parks, preserves, and Bureau of Land Management territories. Representative work includes a $142,784 delivery order (awarded November 2024, completion April 2026) for wolf and caribou capture and mortality pickups at Denali National Park and Preserve; a $120,000 delivery order (March 2026, completion February 2027) for wildlife research support at Denali; and a $61,382.50 delivery order (January 2025, completion December 2025) for 2025 caribou captures and surveys. Pricing on delivery orders is typically fixed-price with economic price adjustment or firm fixed-price.

Customer concentration is extreme and monolithic: the Department of the Interior's National Park Service Alaska Region accounts for 117 awards (60% of the recent award count) valued at $2.4 million, but that footprint is dwarfed in dollar terms by a single $38.2 million award to the Department of the Interior's Office of Policy Management and Budget. The Interior Business Center, the administrative contracting office, issued 15 awards with $27.1 million combined potential value. The top five Interior sub-agencies account for 84% of the award count. Across the portfolio, the National Park Service drives operational volume (routine task orders under $150,000 for seasonal wildlife programs), while the Office of Policy Management and Budget award anchors the potential-value ranking with what appears to be a multi-year vehicle or grant-equivalent instrument.

Chena River Aviation holds a prime position on the Department of the Interior's "Alaska Helicopter On Call" Indefinite Delivery Contract 140D8122D0011, a $16.47 million multiple-award Total Small Business IDC awarded March 1, 2022, extending through February 28, 2027. This vehicle serves as the backbone of recent task-order activity, with 33 task orders generating $1.1 million in combined potential value. The company also performs under legacy vehicles including the DOI Alaska On Call Helicopter Flight Services 2017-2021 (49 task orders, $658 thousand) and the DOI Alaska On Call Helicopter Flight Services 2013-2016 (29 task orders, $569 thousand), as well as blanket purchase agreements with Interior. Work is performed across multiple Alaska locations including Denali National Park and Preserve, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, and various Bureau of Land Management territories, with administrative oversight at the Interior Business Center.

Activity has declined sharply: thirteen awards in 2022 to three in 2026 year-to-date. Only four awards with combined potential value of $211,000 reach ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months, indicating minimal near-term recompete exposure. However, the $16.47 million parent IDC underlying most task orders extends through February 28, 2027 — a material recompete date for maintaining prime position. The company's footprint is categorized under NAICS 481211 (Nonscheduled Chartered Passenger Air Transportation) and PSC 42 (Transportation/Travel/Relocation), representing 179 and 183 awards respectively across the full portfolio. Chena River Aviation has held federal registration since 2005, establishing a twenty-plus year relationship with Interior Alaska operations.